Families and military officials met in Phoenix on Tuesday to send off the 123rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, as those soldiers prepare to deploy to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, but they're not preparing for the traditional battle.

The soldiers are part of a detachment of military journalists who deal with media and community issues.

"They are combatants in information warfare, which this day in age is by far the most challenging war to fight," said Lt. Col. Kenneth Stice. "You can't see your enemy, and a lot of times you can't see what your actions are doing, positive or negative."

The unit will depart on Sept. 26 for Fort Dix, New Jersey, where they will receive additional training before leaving at the end of October for the facility where the U.S. houses terror suspects, according to an Arizona National Guard spokesperson.

The unit's commander, Capt. Amanda Hammond, said they have the thankless job of ensuring transparency, justice, legality and safe, humane treatment for the people being held at the detention facility.

"We're not going to have bullets flying at us like we would in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we're all grateful for that and our families are as well," Hammond said. "But that doesn't make the job any less challenging or the sacrifice that they're taking any less painful."

At the farewell ceremony Tuesday at the Papago Park Military Reservation, the room was filled with family members and friends. Soldiers in the deploying unit stood in formation in front of an enormous American flag as Army dignitaries spoke from a nearby podium about the proud and solemn occasion.

Tammy Straub, Hammond's mother, said this will be her daughter's second deployment after being sent to Afghanistan several years ago, and though the family would prefer more exotic locations, the stint in the secretive base known as "Gitmo" comes with certain advantages.

"We're going to get a chance to visit her there," Straub said. "Which isn't common because a lot of time they're in war zones like Afghanistan or Iraq or Somalia."

A National Guard spokesman said the unit will likely be deployed for nine months to a year.

The detachment was organized in 1960 as the 123rd Public Information Detachment. Their most recent deployment was to Iraq in 2008 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.